A Post-Apocalypse Christmas
by KATTALNUVA
Summary: Aa short story for the holidays. How do you celebrate Christmas after a zombie apocalypse?
1. Chapter 1

"Rise and shine lover boy!"

Takashi Komuro was awoken Shizuka's friend Rika. He had been sleeping under a small pile of blankets and sandwiched between Saeko and Rei, the former holding him affectionately, and the later determinedly sleeping with her back to him. They had been doing this for warmth. One of the many downsides of surviving a zombie apocalypse was that there was no heat during the winter.

"What is it?" he whispered trying not to disturb the girls.

"There's been a break in the weather, which means it's our turn to gather firewood and go hunting; unless you'd rather have canned food and homemade hardtack for dinner again."

Hardtack was easy to make and lasted long, but everybody was sick of it. Takashi felt like it was beginning to stick to his mouth.

"Alright… just give me a second."

Takashi carefully shifted his way out of the cocoon of blankets he was under, careful not to disturb the girls. He had to climb over Rei because he didn't want to risk falling on top of Saeko. Several months ago they had decided to celebrate his birthday with some spirituous beverages that had somehow survived the outbreak. Despite not being legally of age, they figured it was okay for Takashi since there was a very real possibility he might not live that long. Takashi remembered trying several different drinks since he couldn't find anything he liked. The next thing he knew he woke up naked with both Rei and Saeko on top of him. It was really awkward.

"Who cares?" Rika had said "For all we know, we could be the last human beings alive, and it could be up to us to repopulate the Earth."

"Don't even joke about that." said Saya.

"I wasn't joking."

"Good, because I sure as hell don't find it funny!"

Of course they had all forgotten about little Alice in all this, who was too young to understand what they were talking about. Despite their best efforts to forget about the incident, it was clear that a wall had risen between Rei and Saeko, and it got a lot thicker a few weeks later when the group had realized that Saeko was pregnant with Takashi's child.

"How did I screw up this bad?"

Takashi stared at the small mountain on Saeko's stomach under the blankets. The pregnancy had been hard enough on the group, particularly Saeko's cravings that couldn't be satisfied. Takashi had lost count of how many times Saeko had cried herself to sleep because they didn't have any chocolate. Everything else aside, this was no world to raise a child in. They hadn't seen any zombies in a while, but they spent plenty of time worrying that some less than noble individuals might raid the place.

"Are you going to wait for the baby to be born, or are you going to make sure she has something to eat tonight?" asked Rika.

Takashi kissed Saeko's stomach before he left the room.

" _We'll make it work… somehow."_

"Anything to report?" asked Rika.

"Just snow and more snow."

Saya looked terrible. Not only had it been her turn to keep watch the previous evening, but the fact that they didn't have any hot water made it hard for anyone to keep up on their personal hygiene. Takashi and Kohta in particular had started growing some facial hair.

"If there are any other survivors, they wouldn't dare be out in this weather. Don't be out there too long, I have no idea how long this break is going to last."

"We'll keep that in mind. Tell Kohta to relieve you and get some rest."

Takashi and Rika both bundled up, grabbed their gear, and set off.

 **To be continued**


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up Santa Claus…"

"Santa Claus?" asked Kohta stirring beneath his blankets "What gave you that connection?"

"I'm too tired to think of any other beard jokes…" replied Saya "Takashi and Rika are out hunting, which means it's your turn to hold down the fort."

The gang was fortunate enough to find a place to stay for the winter. It was a descent sized house in the woods. They had no idea what had happened to its former inhabitants, nor did they care. They chose the place because it was isolated, there was no shortage of firewood, and hopefully there were some animals they could hunt. They had spent the last couple months fortifying it and gathering supplies. They only had one fire going in the whole house because they didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. The only other source of warmth came from heated rocks spread throughout the rooms.

"Anything worth mentioning happen last night?"

"Just snow and more snow… If we survive this winter, we really need to consider trying to get somewhere with a warmer climate."

"We've made it this far, haven't we?"

Saya didn't respond to Kohta's question because she had already fallen asleep under the blankets. He went downstairs to find Shizuka and Alice both awake already.

"Good morning!" they both said trying to sound cheerful.

"Be honest with me, do I look like Santa Claus to you?"

"Nope, your beard's not long enough." said Alice.

"And you've certainly lost weight since this whole ordeal started."

"Thanks for noticing."

"Oh my, I completely forgot!" exclaimed Alice "Do you guys think it's almost Christmas?"

"Hard to tell… Time moves slowly when you're survivors of a zombie apocalypse holed up for the winter."

After a brief breakfast, Alice and Shizuka started playing checkers while Kohta went to work making arrows. All the guns they had weren't going to do them any good if they didn't have any bullets, so Kohta had made some bows for them to use. The wood that couldn't be used to make arrows was used as firewood. After about a half hour, Rei came down wearing earmuffs and wrapped in a white blanket, looking grumpy as usual.

"Looks at that, its Princess Leia." said Kohta under his breath "Sorry your highness, but Han Solo isn't here."

"Good morning!" said Shizuka.

"What's so good about it?" grumbled Rei.

"Is Saeko up yet?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"I better check on her."

Shizuka found Saeko tossing and turning beneath her little cocoon of blankets.

"And how's our mother-to be this morning?"

"My back is killing me… Where's Takashi?"

"There was a break in the weather. He and Rika are out hunting. Come downstairs, it's warmer."

Saeko tried to eat, but could barely stomach a few bites of hardtack with peanut butter. She looked like she was about to cry.

"I hate this… I would give my left arm for some chocolate."

"Well that's about as fascinating as the last four hundred times you told us that!" snapped Rei "If you wanted chocolate so badly you shouldn't have cannonballed all the granola bars we had!"

"I can't help it, I'm pregnant!"

"That's your excuse for everything! I don't think we have enough water to survive the winter because of you!"

"Why can't we just drink the snow?" asked Alice.

"That's… actually a good question."

"In that case, why don't the two of you go fill our empty water bottles with some snow." suggested Shizuka.

While Rei and Alice started filling the bottles, Shizuka started giving Saeko a backrub to help her feel better.

"I really wish I had some chocolate…"

"Don't think about food." said Shizuka.

"Then take my mind off it, talk to me about something."

Shizuka was drawing a blank, which left only Kohta. Unfortunately he couldn't think of any topics that Saeko might understand, so he just said the first thing that came to mind.

"If the world hadn't ended, who do you think Monkey D. Luffy would have ended up with?"

"Who?"

"Wouldn't he have just ended up with Nami?" asked Shizuka.

"You read or watched One Piece?"

"Just because I'm a woman I can't kill time with anime or manga when I'm bored?"

"Why Nami?"

"What's wrong with her? She was the second person to join Luffy's crew. I think they would have made a very cute couple."

"Yeah but that's too obvious. We're talking about One Piece, not Fairy Tail." said Kohta.

"So what, he should have just gone off and married Boa Hancock."

"She was supposedly the most beautiful woman on the sea, and the first person to declare romantic interest in Luffy. Does Goku and Chi-Chi ring a bell?"

"Not the same thing. How many other women did Goku even know?"

Kohta and Shizuka took turns telling Saeko about all of Luffy's potential consorts from the series, and then they asked her who she thought would have ended up with Luffy.

"I think I'm gonna go with… Rebecca."

"WHAT?!"

Kohta, Shizuka, and Saeko argued over who they thought was Luffy's ideal wife, Rei and Alice filled their empty water bottles with snow. When they were done they set them next to the fire to melt.

"The fire's getting low." said Rei.

"We don't have any dry kindling; we better throw another book or two on."

"Here, burn this." said Saeko "One minute it talks about a womanizing drunk, the next it tells you the life story of Henry Ford."

"Who reads this stuff?" ased Rei going through the house's library "Look at these books. 'Who Would Have Thought It?' by María Ruiz de Burton, 'Pudd'nhead Wilson' by Mark Twain, 'Banjo' by Claude McKay? Excuse me if I sound racist, but I don't speak 1920's African American vagabond. How am I supposed to enjoy the book if I can't understand a single stupid word they're saying?"

"To be fair, I don't think any of us would get enjoyment out of that one." said Kohta.

"How did it end up like this?" asked Rei collapsing into a chair "I survived the end of the world, only to end up starving and freezing to death in a house with the woman who stole the man I love!"

"Here we go again…" said Kohta under his breath.

"No one's forcing you to stay…" said Saeko.

"Where the hell could I possibly go?!"

"Technically she didn't steal Takashi from you." said Kohta "One of you rolled snake eyes and the other rolled seven."

"You stay out of this!"

"Will you people shut the hell up?!" said Saya coming down the stairs "Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Look Rei… I'm sorry how things turned out... and I know Takashi is too… He loves me, and he has a responsibility to me… but anyone can see that it doesn't mean he loves you any less."

Suddenly Saeko's eyes shot open and she bit her lip.

"Saeko?"

She stumbled to the ground and started breathing real heavy.

"Oh my god…" said Rei "Is she?"

"MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!" yelled Shizuka.

 **(To be continued)**


	3. Chapter 3

Takashi never understood the fetish some people had with archery until he had to use a bow and arrow himself. They didn't make anywhere near as much noise a gun did, so it was less likely to attract any unwanted attention or scare off any animals. Rika was a lot better than him at it, but he had gotten better with practice.

"So, have you two decided on a name yet?" asked Rika.

"What?"

"Have you and Saeko decided what you're going to name the baby yet?"

Takashi hadn't really thought of that. All his efforts thus far had been focused on keeping the group together. The baby had put up a huge wall between Rei and Saeko, and the fact that they were cooped up in a cold house all winter with few supplies had the entire group on edge. Saya was yet to let up on the fact that the baby meant there would be one more mouth to feed. They could bathe properly without worrying about hypothermia, and most days it felt like everyone was going to go insane from boredom.

"No, we haven't."

"You better hurry up and decide then. Shizuka says the baby should be coming any day now."

They stopped in their tracks because Zeke started growling.

"What is it boy?" whispered Rika.

Zeke looked in the directions of some nearby bushes. Takashi and Rika couldn't hear anything, and there were no human footprints around except their own. They both loaded their bows and took aim. On Rika's command Zeke barked. Two rabbits came jumping out of the bushes, unware of what as waiting for them.

"Looks like fresh meat is back on the menu." said Rika hoisting her kill off the ground.

"We better head back soon; I don't like the look of those… clouds."

Takashi noticed some smoke rising about a kilometer from their position.

"Follow me… keep your eyes and ears open."

Takashi and Rika kept their eyes and ears open for any sign of danger, being careful not to make too much noise as they went. Zombies didn't know how to start a fire, which left only one alternative. They made toward the smoke, hugging trees as they went, until finally…

"My god!"

They had stumbled on a ransacked campground. There were three bloody bodies littered on the ground.

"Judging from the tattoos, I'd say these poor bastards were members of the yakuza before the world went to hell."

"Those are claw marks, not bite marks…"

"It's still fresh, so whatever did this isn't far. Let's do a quick search and get out of here."

Rika picked up the unused wood while Takashi searched through the rest of the camps. From the looks of things these goons were unlikely to have much food lying around, but every little bit counted.

"I don't suppose they have any ammo for our guns?" asked Rika.

"Looks like it's your lucky day." replied Takashi placing the box he had found in his backpack.

"Anything else?"

"Well let's see… Holy shit!"

Inside the tent was duffle bag full of money.

"There must be ten million yen in here!"

"It's been nearly a year since the end of the world." laughed Rika "What were they planning to do with all that money?"

"I'm sure we could use it if we run out of firewood."

"Did you find anything else?"

"Just a machete, two handguns, five boxes of matches, a flashlight with some batteries, and some blankets."

"Any food?"

"Just a half-eaten bag of expired potato chips, and… jackpot!"

"What?"

Before Takashi could answer, the two of them were met with a loud roar. They turned around and saw a big brown bear standing a few feet from them.

"Shouldn't that thing be hibernating?"

"Bears don't really hibernate, but now isn't the time for a zoology lesson."

"What do we do?"

"Do not run… let's just back away slowly…"

Without warning the bear started to charge. Rika had her hands full, so Takashi acted on instinct and wacked the bear with the baseball bat he had been carrying. The creature growled in defiance.

"Why didn't you use the machete?!"

Takashi didn't have time to respond. He jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting slashed by the bear's claws. He started swinging at it with both the machete and the bat, but seemed to be missing on purpose.

"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!"

The bear charged again. Takashi dodged to the side and smacked it again with the bat. Once again he started swinging the machete and bat, but now he started howling. The bear growled and stumbled off.

"Phew… sacred him off. "

"What the hell was that supposed to be?"

"I was doing my Gamera impression."

"That didn't sound even remotely like Gamera."

The wind began to pick up as Takashi and Rika made their way back to the house.

"Something tells me this is going a very long night." said Rika.

"At least we got some more food and supplies. And wait till Saeko sees the…"

"TAKASHI!"

Rei came running out of the house when Takashi and Rika were still about a hundred yards out.

"Boy do we have a story for…"

"Not now! It's happening!"

"What's happening?" asked Rika.

"Saeko's gone into labor! She's having the baby!"

 **(To be continued)**


	4. Chapter 4

Takashi and Rika got back to the house just in time. According to Shizuka, Saeko had already been in labor for two hours. It seemed that no sooner than Takashi and Rika shut the door behind them that the blizzard hit. Shizuka needed an extra set of hands with her, so Takashi and Rika went upstairs to assist, and Kohta was preparing the meat that they had brought back. Everyone else sat downstairs listening to the wind roar outside.

"How long is this going to take?" asked Alice.

"We don't know." said Saya "It's different for everyone."

"But how did Saeko get Takashi's baby anyway?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

At that moment, a loud scream echoed throughout the house.

"In hindsight… a part of me is glad that's not me up there." said Rei.

Time became a steady blur of nothing. Everyone tried to keep themselves distracted as best they could, but they just couldn't ignore the fact that a baby was being born one floor above their heads. Occasionally Rika came back down to reheat the rocks or grab another bottle of water, but offered little insight as to what was going on up there. Meanwhile the snow continued to fall like crazy outside.

"I hate this… I hate this… I hate this…"

"We heard you the first hundred times." said Saya.

"Could you at least try to understand how I feel right now? Completely ignoring the whole survivors of the end of the world stranded in a blizzard thing, the man I love is having a child with another woman. How can I ethically get in the middle of that?!"

Saya didn't have a rebuttal.

"God dammit!"

Saeko had reached the point where she alternated between screaming and swearing.

"Don't take it personally." said Shizuka to Takashi "She's in a lot of pain and she's not thinking straight."

At one point Takashi stood up because his feet had fallen asleep.

" _How I could I have been so stupid? I made one lapse in judgment, and now everything is more fucked up than ever."_

Takashi and Saeko weren't even out of their teens yet, and already they were bringing a child to life in a world where you struggled to just to see another sunrise. All the while he had hurt the woman he had loved since they were children. It wasn't like he had decided who he had gotten pregnant, but it was still tearing him up inside.

"Takashi! Please don't leave me! I can't do this alone! I can't!"

One look in Saeko's pleading eyes was enough to make Takashi forget about his regrets. He needed to be strong right now for Saeko and the baby. This was no time to cry over spilled milk.

"It's okay Saeko… I'm not going anywhere."

For the past several months Takashi had been unsure about his feelings for Saeko. It had been clear to him that she cared about him very deeply. Was he just going along with everything because of the baby, or was it really possible for a man to love more than one woman? After everything he had Saeko had been through since the outbreak, he knew he couldn't imagine life without her, just as much he couldn't imagine life without Rei, or any of the others.

Hours passed until darkness had fallen outside.

"Gezz, it's already night."

The blizzard still hadn't let up. Rei had given up trying to read the book she had picked up from the houses' library. Kohta and Saya tried to keep Alice entertained with whatever games happened they had. Suddenly Saeko's screams echoed through the house again.

"What is in there, a baby badger?" asked Kohta.

"Is Saeko going to be okay?"

"It's okay Alice, Shizuka knows what she's doing."

Saya was doing her best to sound sincere. She very much doubted that a former school nurse knew much about delivering babies.

"Do we have any wine left?" asked Rei.

"You can't be serious…"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Okay, this little 'woe is me' thing is getting really old!" snapped Saya "You're not the only one who's suffering! In case you haven't noticed, Takashi has been miserable this whole time, and even a blind man can see that Saeko feels guilty. She knows you feel the same way about Takashi that she does, and she would be feeling the same way if the situation were reversed!"

"It doesn't change the fact she's having his baby."

"Oh boo-hoo! I don't know if the end of the world has taught you anything, but shit happens, deal with it! You know Takashi cares about you; otherwise he and Saeko would have asked you to leave!"

For a brief moment the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the blizzard outside, and then Saeko screamed louder than ever before. Silence followed, only to be broken by the sound of crying.

 **(To be continued)**


	5. Chapter 5

At that moment everything stopped. Everyone dropped what they were doing and made for the stairs, but Rika was already there with some visible bloodstains on her clothes.

"Trust me; you don't want to go in there. It's a mess."

"Is Saeko…"

"She's fine, just exhausted… and I don't blame her. All things considered, Shizuka did fine for her first baby delivery."

"What is it?" asked Alice.

"Just wait and see…"

While the others made sure that dinner was ready, Rei thought about what had happened on Takashi's birthday. She, Takashi, and Saeko had all been under the influence and weren't responsible for their actions. She knew Saeko loved Takashi as much as she did, she couldn't help it that one of them ended up carrying his baby and the other didn't. They would have to work it out if they were going to survive the winter, but now wasn't the time.

Shizuka had changed into a different pair of clothes before she came down, and she still looked all the worse for wear.

"I should have stuck with being a high school nurse." she joked.

When Takashi came downstairs he was carrying Saeko. She looked like hell, but she had a huge smile on her face. The thing that really caught everyone's attention was the little bundle that she was carrying.

"Aww…"

"Say hello to Kishi… because we want her to have a long and happy life."

"Do you do all this for us?"

"That, and because it's Christmas." said Alice.

"It's Christmas?!" asked the others.

"I went looking around the house and found this digital watch."

They looked at the watch Alice had brought them. It was after midnight and the date read December 25th.

"Well what do ya know." said Rei.

"Yeah, marry freaking Christmas." joked Saya "We can celebrate with a couple pounds of rabbit meat, canned beans, and vegetables."

"That's more than what some people have."

Takashi and his friends had survived the end of the world. They may not have had much, but they had a place to stay for the winter and enough food to get by. At the end of the day they still had each other. That was all that mattered.

"You know, if it weren't the end of the world, we'd all be rich."

Takashi showed the others the bag of money he and Rika had found while they were hunting.

"Look at all this money!"

"Too bad its worthless." said Saya.

"We can still use it if we ever run out of firewood."

"We did however find something that was absolutely priceless."

For a moment the others were worried that Saeko was going to drop the baby. Takashi pulled a whole tin of hot cocoa out of his bag.

"Oh God yes!"

"Is that still good?"

"If it hasn't been opened it's still good. Cocoa powder can last for about two years." said Shizuka.

Everyone agreed that the cocoa tasted really good, but Saeko looked like she was going to have an orgasm.

"We really need to learn how to make our own chocolate."

"For that we're going to need cocoa beans." said Rika.

"Japan doesn't have any cocoa beans." said Saya "They only grow in tropical zones. Japan is mostly temperate."

"So where's our nearest cocoa bean plantation?"

"Best guess, Indonesia or Malaysia." replied Saya "That would require us making it all the way to the shore and finding an operational boat to take us across the ocean. Even if we could get there we still wouldn't speak their language… assuming there are any survivors."

"Would you like to stay here for the rest of your natural life?" asked Kohta.

"Let's worry about that after we survive the winter." said Takashi.

The blizzard continued to rage outside. Once again it was so cold they all had to huddle together for warmth, but for some reason they didn't seem to mind as much as before.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful… but the fire is so delightful." started Shizuka.

"And since we've no place to go…" said Rei.

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

It doesn't show signs of stopping  
And I've bought some corn for popping  
The lights are turned way down low  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When we finally kiss good night  
How I'll hate going out in the storm!  
But if you'll really hold me tight  
All the way home I'll be warm

The fire is slowly dying  
And, my dear, we're still goodbying  
But as long as you love me so  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

 **Sorry if that was a little halfbaked and rushed. I just couldn't get this story out of my head and I wanted to get it done before Christmas. I'm still really rusty and I've been under EXTREME stress. This past year I've had my heart broken and my faith in God pushed WAY past the breaking point. My first published book (all my own) has fallen flat on the ground. Being forced to read literature from obscure periods in history doesn't help. No promises, but I'll see what I can do about finishing "Resurrection of Cycotan."**

 **(Have A Merry Christmas!)**


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